Shade cloth

[Chococatte]

I'm planning on building a shade structure for my orchids to sit under, since there are very few oak trees surrounding the house to shelter my orchids under from the intense mid-day sun. I have a diverse collection of 'chids as you can see from my list. I've acquired a few more from ebay. What would be the appropriate % shade cloth to get for this project? Which material would be better the standard black shade cloth or new Aliumnet?

[BikerDoc5968]

I don't know what would work best in Gainsville with your diverse collection. For me when I purchased a shade cloth in SE Michigan what was more important was whether it was woven or knitted. Woven cloth comes in "odd" % shade, i.e., 47%, 55%, 63%, 73%, etc. While knitted ususally comes in "even" % shade, i.e., 40%, 50%, 60%, etc and is lock stitched to prevent unravelling if the material gets snagged. The material, either polypropylene monofilament strands(woven) or polyethylene(knitted) for each are pretty standard across the industry; UV stabilized, with taped and stitched edges ...anyway, that was my research from a year or so ago...things may have changed. This is a good starting link for shade cloth: Shade Cloth (1-866-727-6658). The guy who usually answers the phone is very knowledgeable and very helpful and would probably be a good starting point. I personally don't know him nor do I have any "ties" to him...he just was really nice to me. There are tons of sources, just google search "shade cloth" and pick your poision

[Chococatte]

Thanks I look into it.

Originally Posted by BikerDoc5968

I don't know what would work best in Gainsville with your diverse collection. For me when I purchased a shade cloth in SE Michigan what was more important was whether it was woven or knitted. Woven cloth comes in "odd" % shade, i.e., 47%, 55%, 63%, 73%, etc. While knitted ususally comes in "even" % shade, i.e., 40%, 50%, 60%, etc and is lock stitched to prevent unravelling if the material gets snagged. The material, either polypropylene monofilament strands(woven) or polyethylene(knitted) for each are pretty standard across the industry; UV stabilized, with taped and stitched edges ...anyway, that was my research from a year or so ago...things may have changed. This is a good starting link for shade cloth: Shade Cloth (1-866-727-6658). The guy who usually answers the phone is very knowledgeable and very helpful and would probably be a good starting point. I personally don't know him nor do I have any "ties" to him...he just was really nice to me. There are tons of sources, just google search "shade cloth" and pick your poision